ES renewals based on extraordinary mission participation

[RiverAux]

In general I am happy with CAP's current system of ES qualifications and how they are earned.  It is a major step up from where we were not too long ago.  As many will recall until recently you could get your qualifications renewed if you had gone on 1 mission in the past two years and completed the current CAPT116 and continuing education requirements. 

This was obviously insufficient as 1 mission every two years is nowhere near enough to stay current in any specialty.  Sure, most people probably exceeded the minimum number of missions, but the lowest common denominator was way too low. 

Now, in 2004 they went to a system where you only had to go on one mission every 3 years, but that had to be under supervision of an evaluator AND they have to demonstrate every single one of the tasks for that specialty to an evaluator (not necessarily on the same mission they were on with an evaluator -- can be done outside of any mission). 

Now, the problem I have with this is having to redo all the tasks every three years.  Yes, there are some benefits to making sure people still know how to do them, especially the rarely used tasks (most of which are ground team related).  But, lets face it, getting qualified in any CAP ES task is a fairly big chore and essentially we're telling folks that they have to start from scratch with all their ES qualifications every three years.  Frankly, I see this leading towards a significant decline in the people qualified in multiple specialties as it just won't be worth their time to re-do everything this often.  I know I'm not the first here to point this out. 

My suggestion is that members who demonstrate extraordinary participation in ES missions be exempted from having to re-do everything and either get a total pass, or only be required to re-do a small number of tasks, primarily those that aren't used very often for which their skills could get rusty.

What is extraordinary participation?  Well, I would suggest that anyone who has served in an ES specialty more than 18 times in a 3-year period has done more than their part and asking them to spend extra time proving they know what they're doing is something of an insult.  This would come out to going on a mission in the same specialty every 2 months for 36 months. 

These folks are obviously go-to guys and I don't see any benefit to CAP by introducing more hassles into their life in order to stay qualified in something they're using all the time.  Sure, not many people would qualify for this short-cut, but they're the ones we need to make sure we don't overload more than necessary with bureacratic hassles. 

Personally, I don't think I would ever qualify for renewal under this plan, but I can think of several people who would and they certainly deserve it. 

[Dragoon]

Now, in 2004 they went to a system where you only had to go on one mission every 3 years, but that had to be under supervision of an evaluator AND they have to demonstrate every single one of the tasks for that specialty to an evaluator (not necessarily on the same mission they were on with an evaluator -- can be done outside of any mission). 

I do not believe that anywhere in CAP regs is there a requirement to "demonstrate every single on of the tasks" for renewal.  If I'm mistaken, can you point me at the reference?

Cause that was most definitely not the intent of the 2004 revision, nor the way most folks I know are implementing it.

[RiverAux]

From CAPR 60-3 2.4B Renewal of Specialty qualifications (bold emphasis is mine)

During the evaluation, candidates will be required to demonstrate their ability to perform and/or evaluate all tasks required to qualify in that specialty.

[arajca]

Which makes it REALLY hard to renew if you're anything above the basic level since you'd have to do ALL the tasks for each rating up to your current one.

I.e. GBD requires GTL. Which requires GTM/UDF. Or GTM1 requires GTM2 which in turn requires GTM3. You'd spend three years just demonstrating all those tasks, let alone actually doing something.

Can you imagine the hassle for IC1?!

[RiverAux]

Our Wing is just interpreting it to mean the tasks for your current level.  The GBD just needs to demonstrate the GBD tasks but not the pre-requisites.  However, if you wanted to maintain your GTL, then you would need to do the GTL tasks, etc.  So, most people will probably just maintain their highest specialties to avoid having to keep re-demonstrating all the tasks involved in the lower ones (why should the GTL bother to keep the GTM specialties?). 

[lordmonar]

There is a matrix already in 60-3 (attachment 4) that says while serving in one area you get credit for those under you.  Ergo a GTL gets automatic credit for GTM-1,-2,-3 and UDF.  So it would not be necessary to serve in each and every specialty to requalify.

[RiverAux]

That counts for the mission participation, but that is a separate issue from demonstrating competence in the tasks associated with that specialty. 

[Dragoon]

From CAPR 60-3 2.4B Renewal of Specialty qualifications (bold emphasis is mine)

During the evaluation, candidates will be required to demonstrate their ability to perform and/or evaluate all tasks required to qualify in that specialty.

Wow....they screwed the pooch on that one.  You're right - at 10 minutes per task evaluation (as good an estimate as any), you've got several DAYs per requal. That just ain't gonna happen.  And from what I've seen, it isn't happening in most parts of CAP.